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Nakajima, Rosales are getting healthy

3/26/13: Hiroyuki Nakajima is forced to leave the game after sustaining a left hamstring injury

By Jane Lee
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MLB.com |

ANAHEIM -- A's infielders Hiroyuki Nakajima and Adam Rosales are making encouraging strides in their respective rehabs back in the Bay Area, Oakland manager Bob Melvin said on Tuesday.

Nakajima, nursing a strained left hamstring, has begun taking swings in the cage and, on Monday, he even endured a few 40-yard sprints.

"He's starting to feel that much better," Melvin said, "so my guess is that once we get home he might be able to get out on the field with us and do all the normal pregame activities."

The A's return home from a six-game road swing on Friday, and should Nakajima be ready to participate in full baseball activity, the club can then begin deciphering potential timetables, including when to send him out for a Minor League rehab assignment.

Still, when Nakajima is deemed 100 percent, he's not guaranteed a spot on the A's roster -- not while Jed Lowrie remains fully healthy himself and continues raking at the plate, where he entered the day batting .500 through the first seven games.

Rosales, meanwhile, has also started taking swings and playing catch, after being limited by an intercostal strain. He, too, will likely play in a few Minor League games before the A's decide whether to bring him back.

Jane Lee is a reporter for MLB.com. Read her blog, Major Lee-ague, and follow her on Twitter @JaneMLB. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.